After closing the first of its kind deal in Europe, Globo TV Sports, the sports distributor of TV Globo and the leading distributor of Brazilian sports, has conquered the North American market in partnership with Media Zone, a company specializing in Online Broadcasts. The deal, covering Internet and mobile phone media, includes the live transmission of the 82 games from the Brazilian Magic Football package of 2008 and 46 editions of FootBrazil, a weekly program about Brazilian football.
 
For Marcelo Spinola, director of Globo TV Sports, this deal is of extreme importance since Media Zone is a company that is very influential in the North American market of new digital media and is present in the USA is more and more important strategically for Brazilian football. As for Media Zone.
 
“MediaZone’s partnership with Globo TV Sports will allow us to exclusively offer full games and highlights featuring the best of Brazilian soccer to fans in the United States,” said Chris Campana, director of MediaZone Brasil. “These soccer tournaments are the foundation for building our online Brazilian service, which delivers an interactive experience for sports, news, fashion, ultimate fighting and children’s programming to Brazilians living all over the world.”
 
Brazilian football is famous all around the world, not only for its five World Championships, but also for the new talent discovered every year on the fields and for the famous player playing internationally. The abundance of aces provides the country with some of the most competitive and exciting championships on Earth.
 
The São Paulo Championship is the strongest and most competitive state championship in Brazil. It brings together three world championship teams (6 titles) and five Brazilian champions (16 titles, more than any other state in Brazil). The São Paulo Championship of 2008 started in January and is made up of three different phases. In the first phase all twenty clubs play against each other in a single leg system. The four best clubs qualify for the semi-finals. In the semi-finals the team with the best record from the regular season plays against the fourth placed team. The second placed team plays against the third placed team. This round is played in a play-off system of two matches. The winners of both groups decide the championship also in two matches, usually during the beginning of May.
 
Right after the São Paulo Championship, the Brazilian Championship commences. It is the largest and most important championship. Since 2003, the championship has been disputed in a double round-robin format. All the teams play against each other at home and away, and the team with the most points at the end of the season is declared the champion. In 2008 the championship will have 20 teams disputing for the title, five of them being World Champions (eight titles) and 14 teams that have already been crowned as Brazilian Champions at least once.
 
About Globo TV Sports
Globo TV Sports is specialized in marketing and selling Brazilian sports events to the international market, including football championships, stock-car races, indoor soccer, beach volleyball tournaments and marathons. Launched in 2005, Globo TV Sports is already broadcasted to more than 100 countries, reaching out millions of football fans in places as far apart as Asia, China, Europe, Estern Europe and Americas. The highlight of portfolio is the Brazilian Magic Football, a package of 82 live matches, with narration and commentaries, facts and figures specially produced in English for the international market. It also offers the Footbrazil, a program aired weekly, transmitted via satellite with exclusive content as training sessions, interviews, rankings and players profiles.
 
About MediaZone
MediaZone is a leading global online broadcaster specializing in professionally produced sports, international and entertainment video programming. MediaZone has established lasting exclusive partnerships with leading media brands including AOL and NBC Sports and is the official online broadcast partner for major events such as Wimbledon, Rugby World Cup 2007 and the Indy Racing League. The company is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area. MediaZone is a division of MIH Ltd. This latest offering is now available at: www.mediazone.com/brasil.